Series Debut Review: ‘Radiant’ Vol 1

The world is overrun with monsters called Nemesis—and a young boy infected by them will stop at nothing to defeat them all!

Evil creatures called Nemeses fall from the skies and the only ones who can fight them are Wizards—infected ones who survived a Nemesis’s corruption. Seth, one of these survivors, vows not only to fight the Nemeses, but to find their mythical nest, Radiant, and destroy it!

Seth has big goals of defeating Nemeses, but first he must earn the trust of the very villagers he wants to protect—not an easy task when those who use magic are just as feared as the Nemeses they fight. Even worse, Seth can barely control his monstrous powers! It’ll take more than brute strength—although it’ll take that too—to get Seth’s quest out of the boonies and into the big time!

Review

Radiant revolves around a world filled with monsters called Nemeses who are appearing out of nowhere. The only ones who can fight them are wizards. But in this world wizards are feared just as much as the Nemeses. This is because they use magic, and only after they have survived an encounter with a Nemeses which normally kills a person. Besides the magic, those who survive also get an ‘infection’. In the case of Seth, he gained a pair of horns. But what makes Seth unique is his ability to use magic with his bare hands, something considered abnormal even among wizards.

The formula for the story is pretty familiar with all the magic related series of late. Our lead character is also predictable: bold, hard headed, big dreams and no discipline. I enjoyed the art style of the characters and world building. They managed to give us a decent amount without overwhelming. The little details with each character and background are fun to look at and analyze their meaning.

Unlike a lot of manga, this manga was not created in Japan but comes from France. The difference in character design and art come from the series creator, French born Tony Valente. The tropes you will see in the manga are different and unique. That is what makes me very excited to see where this series goes. Whether Seth ever finds the mythical origin land of the Nemeses, Radiant, or not, I will be going along for the journey.

Plus, the series has been so popular in its debut, it already has a Japanese anime coming. Check out the trailer for it below. The new anime hits Oct 6th and will be Simulcast on Crunchyroll. No word on who will grab the license to dub the series.

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